Schedule

We haven't finalised full details for this year's carnival. Please find below estimated timings based on last year's event, all times and dates are to be confirmed.

Carnival is a very complex event to run with large vehicles, large numbers of road closures and a large number of spectators therefore it is very difficult too give an exact idea of timings. This page is designed to give you an idea of our ideal world schedule, but please be aware that a number of these times are hugely speculative and the event may over run. All road closures may remain in force for some time after the event however we work hard to ensure roads reopen as soon as it is safe to do so.

Saturday 4th November 2017

21:00 - Queens Drive and The Frank Foley Parkway close to traffic.

Sunday 5th November 2017

All day - Carts lined up on Frank Foley Parkway and Queen's Drive.

17:00 - The Esplanade, the South Esplanade and Pier Street close to traffic.

17:30 - Music will be played on the Esplanade as crowds begin to gather.

18:30 - Firework display begins.

Approx. 18:50 - Firework Display Ends.

After 19:30* - Traffic allowed to clear from Pier Street Car Park and South Esplanade once roads are free from pedestrians.

20:45* - The Esplanade, the South Esplanade and Pier Street reopen to traffic as usual.

Monday 6th November 2017

All day - Carts lined up on Frank Foley Parkway and Queen's Drive.

After 16:00* - Some roads along the route may be closed to traffic if large crowds begin to gather close to the highway.

18:15 - All other town centre roads and those along the route close to traffic.

19:00 - All Disabled cars must be parked in designated area.

19:30 - Pre-procession Starts

Approx. 19:45 - Procession Begins

Approx. 20:30 - Procession expected to have reached Marine Drive

Approx. 21:00 - Last entry expected to pass start line.

After 21:30* - Once all roads are clear of pedestrians traffic within the town centre closure area will be allowed to leave the town via Stodden's Lane.

After 21:45* - Once clear of dismantling carnival carts, traffic from Tesco's car park and Ben Travers Way allowed to exit left via Frank Foley Parkway.

Approx. 22:00 - Last entry expected to pass finish line.

After 22:00* - Once clear of pedestrians and carts Queen's Drive will reopen to traffic leaving town.

* All road closures are applied for to last several hours before and after our event, if necessary all roads closed on carnival night may remain closed until 01:00hrs Tuesday morning. We do our best to close roads as late as possible before the procession and reopen them as early as possible after the procession. This will only be done when it is safe to do so, in co-operation with the Police therefore all times here are approximate.

At the end of the event our teams of volunteers will continue working to clear all of our traffic management equipment from the sides of the roads, we aim to have most of this completed by 5am however some will be collected later on Tuesday morning.